The First Session

The First Session - Ryan Logan
One of the absolute joys of programming for Cinequest this year was the huge number of great comedy shorts that passed in front of me. HUGE and hilarious shorts like the German flick Chasing Daycare or the suitably weird Mr. Egg. These I'll talk about in a while, but the highlight for me were the smaller, fast as a hiccup films, and The First Session  was one of the best, and one that you can actually see! A couple goes in for couples therapy. Now, they're not exactly wasting any time doing so, and that's where the comedy comes in. This is a short made to give actors a chance to play with material. Fawzia Mirza and Mouzam Makkar are great as our couple, and the wonderful Parvesh Cheena (from my favorite sit-com Outsourced) is perfect trying to unravel what's going on. It's a comedy that clocks in at 7 minutes, and it's 7 well-spent minutes. It's well-shot, perfectly paced, and the performances are strong. For my money, it's one of the best comedy shorts of the last decade. Watch http://www.hulu.com/watch/876113 and you'll understand!